
Napolean Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the small island of Corsica in the
Mediterranean Sea. He was born at a very hectic time. Corsica was trying to gain
independence when French troops invaded. He was born during a war, and he�ll
die because of one. When he turned ten his parents sent him to a military school
just outside of Paris. He devoted himself to learning and gaining experience to
military tactics, it paid off. When he was 16 he became a lieutenant in the artillery. 
Revolution broke out the same year. He joined the military of the French Republic.
In October of 1705 a government official told Napoleon to defend the palace
where the National Convention took place. He, with his small army, defeated the
thousands of royalist in minutes. He is declared a hero. In 1796 the Directory
appointed him to command a French army. He marched into Italy and liberated it
from Austria, although some say he conquered it. 
The Directory wasn�t doing very well. In 1799 it accused the French people
of being corrupt. Napoleon seized this opportunity to take it over. On November 9,
1799 he and 500 soldiers took over one chamber of the National Legislature and
drove out the members. The second chamber voted to end the directory. France
was now in the hands of three officials, called consuls. Napoleon was one.
In 1800, he and his fellow consuls set up the plebiscite in which the citizens
had the right to vote yes or no on an issue. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon
crowned himself emperor. The plebiscite made this so. The Pope crowned him
himself. People thought he was a godsend. He greatly changed the economy of
France by making a lot of reforms. He set up a bank, let emigres back into France,
he let their be freedom of religion, he freed slaves, and set up the Napoleonic Code. 
The people outside of France thought differently about Napoleon. They hated him.
In order to extend France�s power. He took over parts of Italy and set up a
government in Switzerland. The British declared war on France afraid that he was
going to go over Great Britain. Napoleon wanted to take over all of Europe, and he
almost did. He won a series of battles; The Battle of Ulm, The Battle of Austerlitz,
The Battle of Jena, and The Battle of Friedland. Napoleon was a military genius, on
land that is. The Battle of Trafalgar was his first loss because it was on water. The
commander of the British fleet was the Napoleon of the sea. In October 1805, he
destroyed Napoleons 33 ships with his 27. Losing this battle forced Napoleon to
give up his plans to invade Great Britain.
In 1812 Napoleon decided to invade Russia. The Czar of Russia refused
Napoleon�s request to stop selling grain to Britain. Napoleon took his �Grand Army�
of conquered European countries� citizens and marched into Russia. This was
grave mistake. His soldiers were not used to the cold weather. The temperature
got to below 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of fighting the army, the Czar pulled
his men back. Before leaving they burned their own fields and slaughtered their
livestock. This was called the scorched-earth policy. When Napoleon�s army
arrived their they didn�t have to fight, but they gained nothing because everything
was burnt to the ground. So they starved. Napoleon decided to retreat, but the
Czar attacked the army in its worst state, when Napoleon made it back to France,
he had only 10,000 men left out of 400,000.
Taking advantage of Napoleon�s weakness, his enemies gathered to destroy
him. Napoleon was able to raise another army and they met at Leipzig in Germany
in 1813. Although Napoleon was great at land, he still lost. His enemies pushed
closer towards Paris until Napoleon�s general eventually refused to fight. By 1814
Napoleon surrendered. His enemies exiled him to a small island called Elba near
Italy.
Napoleon wasn�t done though. The new king of France was pushed from
the throne 9 months after Napoleon�s defeat. Napoleon escaped from Elba and
proclaimed that the French will be liberated with his help. Most of the French
welcomed him back. He made and new army and stormed Paris. He became
emperor again. Napoleon�s enemies quickly gathered to take out Napoleon again. 
They gathered their troops in Waterloo in Belgium. On June 18, 1815, Napoleon
moved in. The British army held their ground all through the day. That night the
Prussian army joined and together they launched a counter attack against
Napoleon�s army. Napoleons troops were too tired from attacking and fled.
Napoleons reign from where he fled from Elba to where he lost at Waterloo
was called the Hundred Days. The British this time exiled him as a prisoner to a
remote island called St. Helena. He spent six years here writing about his memoirs. 
In 1821 he died. His law code and some of his reforms are still in affect in France�s
government today.
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